by J. A. Areces
***
“I’m being framed?”
“Yyyyyeeeeessssss, you are.” The mad wizard opened the trunk next to Jesse and clasped his hands as he brought them up to his face. “Aren’t they to die for? I would like to thank Lord Alex for supplying these tubes that are allowing me to fulfill my dream.”
Jesse looked to the side. The trunk was full of large test tubes. They were all filled with a green glowing substance that filled the room with its hue.
“Dragon breath,” commented Claw, “ - - deadly stuff. If mixed one way it causes death on the spot but if mixed another it causes death from fright. It all depends on the mixture and how I recite the spell. I got it all worked out.” Claw broke out in a frightful laugh.
“What are you framing me for?” shouted Jesse.
“Aren’t you dying to know?” Claw laughed. “OK, I’ll tell you. I’m going to scare everyone to death at Disney World. You know, where dreams really do come truuuuueeee.” He laughed again. “It’s the perfect evil deed.”
“But, why me?”
Claw stood over Jesse and then leaned down to face him. “Someone has to take the blame. You applied for the job.” Claw straightened up and Jesse overheard him muttering under his breath. “I have a bigger plan, a richer plan. I’m moving on to the big time. This will guarantee me an interview for sure.”
“An interview? With the Secret Society of Seven Sorcerers?” Jesse thought out loud. Claw looked down at him very surprised. “You’ve been gazing into my crystal ball, haven’t you?” He returned to the trunk and took a large, leather bag from the table near to them, and began placing the glass tubes into the bag. Each container went into an individual pocket. “Or, should I say Lord Bane’s crystal ball. Poor Lord Bane,” he turned back to Jesse, “he died from a heart attack, scared to death!” He laughed again. “Yes, I killed him! I needed to test my potion and create room for me in the Society. I’ve been working on this potion for years. Poor old Lefkoff, he got blamed for my first batch. Oh, well, I did him a favor and tested it out on him later.”
“And what about the pizza delivery guy, and the homeless man, and that poor grandmother?” asked Jesse. “What about me?”
“Oh,” Claw pretended to be sad, “you were an unfortunate side effect. The curse wasn’t intended for you. I’m sorry. I don’t know why that happened, I suspect it was just a bad batch or mixture, but the good news is that I resolved the problem. The potion now has a safety profile comparable to a placebo.” He laughed. “The latest study, Mily Breezy, died last night and no one else died in the park. The curse can now be isolated. It’s perfect. I can now target just one victim or many. No more ‘oops’ that wasn’t supposed to happen.” Claw giggled.
Claw continued to stuff the bag.
“But the crystal ball… they all heard a voice telling them that the crystal ball was going to set them free.”
“Naaaaahhhh” Claw zippered the bag shut and walked over to the larger table, taking the drawings on Cinderella’s Castle and stuffing them in his coat pocket. “I can also use it for mind control, but it’s not as dramatic.”
“It’s mine you know.” Jesse said, thinking fast. He wanted to keep Claw from leaving. He desperately hoped that Beifar was on his way, or that maybe Chief Fabiano was still outside secretly spying on the store and was about to burst in and save the day, as often happened in the movies. “The crystal ball, I mean, it’s mine.” Jesse continued. “I own this store and everything in it. That must’ve been your doing. So, legally, the crystal ball is mine.”
“Oh, yes, it was my doing but . . .” Claw chuckled, “in the Wizardry world, the owner of a magical item needs to be dead before the magical item officially belongs to another, and I’m not dead yet. You would have known that if you were a wizard. I’ll be taking it with me. I need it for my . . . my extravaganza.”
Claw paused and studied the room, checking to make sure he was taking everything he needed.
“I’d love to stay and chat,” he finally said as Jesse watched, “but I really need to fly.” Claw waved his wand and a Stealth broom from downstairs flew into the room. He caught it and then faced the large windows on the far end of the room that opened like two glass doors. He waved his wand and the windows swung open. A soft breeze brushed against the newspaper clippings blowing some onto the floor.
Claw swung the long strap of the leather bag over his head where it came to rest on his left shoulder and continued diagonal across his chest, and he straddled the broom. “I’m afraid that if I just materialize into the castle, I’ll cause an unfortunate reaction with the potion - - an explosion that might take me with it. I haven’t tested it to see if it can withstand being materialized.”
“Wait! One more thing - - how did you get in the store without setting off the security system?” Jesse asked quickly.
Claw threw his head back and laughed. “Boy, you really don’t know anything. It was easy. I set the original spell and excluded myself from the effect. Simple.”
He saluted Jesse, leaned forward, kicked his feet up, and flew out the window. Jesse watched him turn to the right and disappear. He just witnessed someone fly on a broom for the first time. He was overcome with excitement and despair at the same time.
